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Steve Jobs Defends New iTunes 10 Icon Against Criticism

Friday September 3, 2010 11:43 am PDT by Eric Slivka

With the release of iTunes 10 on Wednesday, Apple has revamped the application's icon for the first time in many years, doing away with the traditional design of music notes on top of a CD. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the change at Wednesday's media event, noting that with iTunes likely to surpass physical CD sales sometime next year, it was time to remove the CD from the icon. The icon change has caused mixed responses, however, with some users appreciating the simplified design while others have criticized it as amateurish in appearance.

Wired reports that one user sent Jobs an email criticizing the new logo for its design and abandonment of the iTunes brand that has developed over the years.

Steve,

Enjoyed the presentation today. But...this new iTunes logo really sucks. You're taking 10+ years of instant product recognition and replacing it with an unknown. Let's both cross our fingers on this...

Despite all of the activity surrounding the media event, Jobs took the time to respond with another one of his brief, to-the-point emails:

We disagree.

Sent from my iPhone

While Jobs obviously provided no additional thoughts on why Apple prefers the icon design over the old one, it's clear that he is taking in users' comments and taking the time to respond rather than simply ignoring the feedback entirely.

The new icon is not the only visual tweak included in iTunes 10, as Apple also took the opportunity to move the "stoplight" buttons for closing and resizing the application's window into a space-saving vertical orientation from the standard horizontal orientation. The company also switched to a a more subdued, grayscale pattern for items in the application's left sidebar.

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MagnusVonMagnum
109 months ago

After reading all of this crap. I can't believe this argument is still going on.
You people are arguing over what an icon looks like? Who F*&%#@g cares?


I can't believe someone would read "all of this crap" if they don't care. I've never understood the need for people to jump into threads they claim to have NO INTEREST in and then tell other people who clearly do have interest in the topic that they shouldn't have any interest in the topic. It's like if you don't like the topic, IGNORE IT and go elsewhere! :rolleyes:
Rating: 1 Votes
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res1233
109 months ago
Anyone notice how two of the stories with "Steve Jobs" in the title seem to be immortal? It's neat. May this thread live long and prosper, and may I direct some of you to the thread "Steve Jobs suggests blu-ray not coming to mac anytime soon" for another thread full of people arguing about the same **** over and over and over and over. I really shouldn't feed these types of threads, but I too would be sad if this thread were to die. :(
Rating: 1 Votes
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CraigEvander
109 months ago

Steve Jobs is alive and well enough to defend the new iTunes logo.

Isn't that great news?


Only the best to Steve. Although many suggest that the outcome will be pretty nasty :(
Rating: 1 Votes
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godrifle
109 months ago
That looks like sphincter. Also, the music note is too small relative to the icon. That's not good icon design.

As a graphic designer for over 20 years. I concur: that new logo sucks! It looks like someone created that in about 2 minutes. Let see, "Take generic 2 tone aqua color circle, add musical note . . . . and . . . . there you go! Instant logo. Can I interest you in 20 animated gifs for your web site now?"

I much rather prefer something like this:



P.S. This icon was designed by Chris Carlozzi. He is a link (http://dribbble.com/shots/51530-iTunes-10-Replacement-Icon-Rebound) to it.

Rating: 1 Votes
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dakwar
108 months ago
7 months on and I'm still clicking the safari icon when i mean to click itunes. :(
Rating: 1 Votes
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reubs
108 months ago

7 months on and I'm still clicking the safari icon when i mean to click itunes. :(


I do the same with Chrome since they're both round on my system. I'd change the iTunes icon, but then I have to give it permission to connect every time.
Rating: 1 Votes
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iRobby
106 months ago

Anyone notice how two of the stories with "Steve Jobs" in the title seem to be immortal? It's neat. May this thread live long and prosper, and may I direct some of you to the thread "Steve Jobs suggests blu-ray not coming to mac anytime soon" for another thread full of people arguing about the same **** over and over and over and over. I really shouldn't feed these types of threads, but I too would be sad if this thread were to die. :(



Long Live the King! Stevo!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

But seriously, I like the new icon vs the old one I agree old one was outdated.

I do have one complaint as far as iTunes logos go:

the purple iTunes App logo used on IOS devices is horrendous. They should make the App icon logo look more like the regular logo.
Rating: 1 Votes
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reubs
107 months ago
Post removed.
Rating: 1 Votes
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dakwar
107 months ago

I do the same with Chrome since they're both round on my system. I'd change the iTunes icon, but then I have to give it permission to connect every time.


The trouble is they're all round and blue. App Store, iDVD, iTunes, QuickTime Player, Safari, with iTunes and Safari being most similar at first glance AND the two icons I need to click most often.
Rating: 1 Votes
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SeaFox
106 months ago

Why is this thread still going? :confused:

Because MacRumors doesn't have a policy to deal with "Necrobumping" threads on the forum it seems, which is generally fixed by moderators by

[LIST=1]
* warning users who do it, especially with posting going off-topic and
* locking the thread to prevent further replies if it continues

Reasons they don't have a policy are probably


* it's extra work for the staff and makes the forum seem more "draconian" in its administration and
* people coming back to the forums causes more ad impressions which makes more money
Rating: 1 Votes

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